Franz Hirtzberger, Steinporz Weissburgunder Smaragd, Wachau

Surprisingly, this wine wine keeps improving from year to year. The Botrytis notes are fading sligtly and the fruit is coming back. A rich and fleshy wine with notes of honey and ripe apples and some really nice acidity. I have to revise my earlier statements, this is actually ageing very well and so far just gaining complexity each year. This was my last bottle, so someone else will need to report on its future development... - 89+ points

Liked it much better than last time. Maybe 3 years of bottle age have helped here. Still a full-bodied wine with lots of extract and a heavy dose of honey-flavored botrytis and alocohol. Probably, what you expect from an old-school Smaragd and a Hirtzberger wine. Does not show any varietal characteristic and will never be a wine of finesse... Still I enjoyed drinking it with a variety of French cream cheeses. - 88 points

This is a powerful Weissburgunder with 14.5% abv. Botrytis flavors of honey and melon added by sweet almonds dominate the wine, reflecting the foggy and wet conditions of fall 2009 in the Wachau Valley. All about ripeness, power and oily texture, this lacks a cleansing freshness and drinkability in my opinion. Should age well, but I generally find it hard to enjoy this Botrytis flavored dry white wine style. - 86 points

Vievinum Internationales Weinfestival; 5/29/2010-5/31/2010 (Wiener Hofburg) : N: komplex, fruchtig, blumig; G: setzt sich dezenter fort, komplex, mittlerer Körper